MIAMI — Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantera had a message last weekend for the Republican faithful gathered at a new GOP “victory” office in Miami: make sure Sen. Marco Rubio gets re-elected.

He also implored the crowd to back more candidates.

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“We also have legislative races like Sen. [Rene] Garcia, Rep. [Michael] Bileca. We have congressional races: Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman [Carlos] Curbelo,” he said Saturday. “The work and the time and the energy that you put in at offices like this ensure victory for Sen. Rubio and our Congress-members and our legislators.”

One name was conspicuously absent: Donald Trump.

Even though the GOP field office was opened to support all Republicans in November, the top of the ticket was almost never mentioned. Nor was his name seen anywhere. Only Rubio placards plastered the storefront windows. Rubio yard signs were stacked against the walls.

If there was one tangible sign that Trump’s campaign has an out-of-sight-out-of-mind quality in Florida’s most-populous county, Miami-Dade, this was it. But it’s not limited to Miami. Throughout the state, mainstream Republicans are growing increasingly antsy that Trump has no actual campaign.

“Where the hell are they?” said one longtime Republican operative involved with numerous campaigns in Florida who didn’t want to use his name for fear of appearing disloyal. “I don’t want to criticize the Trump campaign. I just want them to show up. I want us to win.”

Yet the Trump campaign boasts of more non-party-affiliated, or independent voters, being energized to go to the polls after sitting out previous elections, along with rank-and-file GOP voters fed up with towing the party line. And they say registered Republicans are closing the gap with registered Democrats.

Right now, Trump’s campaign has just one field office open, its Sarasota headquarters. But the Trump campaign is about to rapidly ramp up and have 25 offices open throughout the state by early September, said Karen Giorno, a senior adviser for Trump’s campaign who runs his Florida operation.

“Donald Trump is a nontraditional candidate. And he’s keeping his powder dry until people are paying attention,” she said. “It doesn’t mean we’re not working to get Trump elected right now. We are.”

But to political observers, including jittery Republicans, Hillary Clinton appears to be doing more. By nearly every measurable political metric, Clinton’s campaign has so far dominated the crucial swing state.

· Clinton and her allies have flooded Florida’s airwaves with more than $20 million in ads, many ripping Trump. His campaign and outside groups have spent less than $500,000.

· Through direct contributions or joint fundraising agreements, the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Victory Fund have transferred $2.4 million to the Florida Democratic Party to help build a political infrastructure headed into the general election. The Republican National Committee has sent $1.3 million to the Republican Party of Florida.

· While Trump currently has one active office, the Clinton campaign has hundreds of volunteers canvasing neighborhoods across the state, and 12 campaign offices staffed by Florida Democratic Party field organizers. Those include offices in conservative strongholds like Pensacola and Fort Myers.

Offices are brick-and-mortar evidence that a campaign is planting their flag in a region, and it acts as a home base for volunteers and canvassers.

“It is a place for phone banking, yard sign distribution, and as a launch point for organized walks,” said Screven Watson, a longtime Democratic consultant. “The Clinton campaign is running a similar race to President Obama in '08 and '12. Fields offices and staff spread across our diverse State.”

Watson, however, noted it’s the blueprint for a “traditional campaign,” a notion that Trump has not only ignored but mocked as a vestige of the consultant-driven political model he hopes to steamroll.

“His organizational structure is drawn around him — The Cult of Donald, if you will. He has done nothing traditional to-date,” Watson said. “Why would anyone think his organizational strategy, in one of the most important presidential states, would be any different.”

Giorno agrees her candidate is not traditional, saying that that unique element is what helps him turn out big crowds at a moment’s notice, an ability Trump has deftly used at times to dominate media cycles and drown out his opponents.

“If we put a notice on Eventbrite, we can have 5,000 to 10,000 people show up within a day,” Giorno said. “There’s not that excitement with Hillary Clinton. .... Bricks and mortar do not win an election. People win an election. … I don’t believe our candidate requires 100 offices.”

Clinton’s traditional structural advantages have not translated to the type of large leads in public polling in other battleground states. including New Hampshire. A Suffolk University poll out last week had Clinton topping Trump 43-39 in a four-way race in Florida that includes Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Florida's past three top-of-the ticket statewide elections have been decided by roughly 1-point, an historic trend helping Trump stay close despite lack of a campaign structure. Over the past two decades, the winning presidential candidate has won the state by more than 5 percentage points just once —George W. Bush in 2004.

In an effort to build momentum, both candidates have increased their visits to Florida. Clinton stopped in St. Petersburg and Kissimmee on Monday and is in Miami Tuesday to talk about the threat of the Zikus virus outbreak. She also is attending a fundraiser in Miami Beach.

Trump plans to hold a rally Wednesday in the Fort Lauderdale-area and Thursday in Kissimmee. Giorno, Trump’s Florida strategist, said the campaign is looking for an adequate venue in Broward County.

Giorno said the campaign believes it has independent voters on its side, the “people who want change” and those who have felt “shut out” of having a voice in an election. For instance, she said, 28 percent of current registered voters didn’t vote in 2012, and the campaign expects many of these voters to view Trump to be more of a change agent.

And Giorno said the Trump intensity is showing in voter-registration figures. Republican voters have been slowly narrowing the registration gap with Democrats for years, a trend that picked up heading into the March 15 primary.

Since the 2012 presidential election, Democrats have held an average monthly voter registration advantage of 443,806 over Republicans, a number that’s down to 209,120. In the March 15 presidential primary, Democrats led Republicans in registration 38-35 percent. But as of June 30, the latest tally available, the percentage of GOP voters inched up to 36 percent, while Democrats remain at 38 percent.

Giorno said the growth in the Republican rolls includes new voters, conservative independents who are returning to the GOP fold and “Reagan Democrats” and “Dixiecrats” who have long voted Republican in presidential races but Democratic in local races. So far, about 10 of Florida’s 67 counties have flipped from majority Democrat to majority Republican.

However, since 2012, the voter rolls have become slightly less white. And Trump is faring poorly among minority voters, which is particularly evident in Hispanic-heavy Miami-Dade. There, many hometown Republicans, like Lopez-Cantera, a Cuban-American, aren’t backing Trump.

The cause of the registration surge — conservative Democrats leaving the party — is a rare point where Democratic officials and the Trump camp seem to agree. They don’t, however, see eye-to-eye on how they think those changes may impact the election.

Max Steele, communications director for the Florida Democratic Party, says that registered Democrats in conservative pockets of the state are registering as Republicans, but it won’t have a huge impact because those voters have long cast ballots for Republican candidates.

“The majority of this is independents and Democrats switching to Republican, and it spiked right around the primary,” he said. “These have already been consistent Republican voters.”

He said the change in voter registration numbers represents a top-line cosmetic shift, not one that will change outcomes on election day.